The mistakes we make
by Erksum
Summary: One beautiful night and then everything goes wrong. Can the two of them fix it and each other?


**A/N: I own nothing. Please review.**

**Seeing**

It had been quite a few months since _that_ night and Casey hadn't seen Derek since. Now they would both be home for Easter holiday.

"Hey mom," Casey greeted her mom.

"Hi honey," Nora said pulling her daughter into a big awkward hug trying to get around the baby burdened belly. They managed and with her mom's arms around her Casey could almost forget the aches and pains of her body and mind. It was like she had been transported back to the days before everything went wrong.

And then she said the next words. "Hello Mark. How are you?"

"I'm fine thank you Mrs. Venturi."

Nora didn't give the guy a hug because she wasn't very comfortable with him. She wasn't sure what it was about him but she didn't like him but Mark was her daughter's guy friend so she had to be nice. Casey never said 'boyfriend' but Nora knew there was a carnal relationship between them. Which was why neither Mark nor Casey had brought any bags in they had a hotel room not far from the house.

That was when Derek decided to come down the stairs. He had heard voices and had come to investigate. He saw his step-sister with a guy he guessed was Mark. Casey and Derek seemed to be checking each other over.

Casey noticed that he seemed to be paler than the last time she saw him and perhaps a bit thinner. Lizzie had told her that when he did come home for a weekend he wasn't eating as much as they were used to. He was wearing clothes that could only have been what he had slept in last night. Casey knew that he had come Thursday night instead of Friday morning like she and Mark had.

Derek saw almost the same in Casey which didn't make sense if she had a boyfriend. Edwin had told him about Mark so that he wouldn't be surprised when they came in together. Then Mark, who saw the exchange, put his arms around her and Derek saw his step-sibling flinch at his touch. _Why would she flinch at her boyfriends touch?_ The thought disturbed Derek. Nora didn't appear to have seen the reaction.

Lizzie and Edwin knew that the two had had a falling out but neither knew what had happened. But being the dutiful siblings they were they kept their respected elder siblings informed about the other.

"Oh Derek good you're awake. This is Mark, Casey's friend," Nora said cordially.

"Hey," came Derek's greeting.

The other just nodded his acknowledgement. Nora was going to introduce her step-son back but before she could finish her, "This is…" sentence he interrupted her by saying, "Yeah I know Derek. I watched him play hockey and because of that I met Casey. So I guess I owe you a thank you."

Derek nodded slowly as what he said sunk in. He didn't like that thought.

There was a loud ruckus and Lizzie, Edwin and Marti came down the stairs in a frenzy. "Marti, give me back my stuff," Lizzie was yelling at the young girl. Then it seemed to be Edwin's turn to shout, "Your stuff what about my stuff?"

"Like I care about your stuff Ed! Marti get back here!" Lizzie and Edwin stopped on the landing seeing that Marti had found some protection. Casey shrugged out of Mark's arms, which she knew she was going to pay for later, to catch her little step-sister who had leapt at her when Marti had come down the stairs running from the two middle children.

"Marti did you take something that didn't belong to you?" Casey asked the bundle in her arms. Derek could see that she almost gave the impression that she was happy until Mark once again put his arm on her. But she ignored the arm to concentrate on Marti.

"But Spacey," she flinched at Derek's name for her came from the young girl's lips, "they were arguing almost as bad as you and Smerek used to. See now they're not fighting and yelling at each other."

Derek couldn't help but smile at his sister's logic. "Smarti," he started to say in a teacher-like voice moving towards them. He went to pick up Marti from Casey's arms and their arms brushed. She shivered as if ice went through her veins at the contact and Mark noticed, narrowing his eyes. Derek on the other hand felt like he had been burned but he continued to lecture his sister, "now they want to get you and yell at you."

"That's okay because I have you and Casey to protect me," she stated as if it was obvious with a very big grin on her face. Derek, Casey and Nora chuckled at the statement. "Plus Nora's at her fritz end with the pregnancy and doesn't need any more stress," she mimicked her brother's tone from earlier. That even made Edwin and Lizzie smile.

"Its wits end not fritz end Marti," Nora corrected.

"No," Marti said seriously, "I'm sure you screamed 'fritz end' at dad when we were at the doctor's office." The occupants of the house looked at the pregnant woman who blushed at the revelation. "And that's when Dr. Shore said that you needed to reduce the stress and you said you have 'three kids at home, two kids in college that you have to worry about plus your job'. That's when he said 'then you don't need any more' and you said that obviously didn't have children and then…"

"Okay Marti," Nora interrupted her cheeks a little red.

Derek was smiling at the fact that no one remembered that his sister was really smart and very observant. Casey saw the smile on Derek's face and thought that it made him look better.

"Okay Smarti, go give Lizard and Edweirdo back their stuff and we can all play a game until dad gets home and we can eat," Derek negotiated with the girl using the nicknames of the other two giving them a wink.

"Okay," she said popping out of her brother's arms excitedly.

They had played a very long game of Monopoly when finally George came home. That was when they sat down and ate dinner and talked until quite late. Throughout the whole affair Mark just watched the family, particularly Casey and Derek, not playing or talking much. He saw that the whole time they were in the same room together they would look at each other when they thought that the other wasn't looking.


End file.
